


The First Days of Fall

by loveydoveyecstasy



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Rainbow hair 'verse, Ridiculous amounts of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-15
Updated: 2012-09-15
Packaged: 2017-11-14 06:12:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/512170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveydoveyecstasy/pseuds/loveydoveyecstasy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When it gets cold, Charles can't handle it. Erik doesn't understand, but he finds it adorable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The First Days of Fall

The first few days of fall were Erik’s favorite. It meant the walk from their dorm to class wasn’t completely unbearable, and it also meant that he could break out a sweater or two and not look completely out of place. He also loved watching the leaves change colors as he walked to class, and loved seeing the animals rushing around even more. 

His favorite part about the beginning of fall, however, had to be Charles. 

Charles had never responded well to the cold. He regaled Erik with stories about how, as a child, he had gone to school bundled up in six layers of clothing, barely able to see over the pile of sweaters and scarves he had wrapped himself in, and would still be shivering by the time he reached his classroom. The first year of their relationship, Erik found out just how low of a tolerance Charles had for the cold. 

That first year, he would come home to find their dorm roasting, and Charles curled up on the futon with an afghan wrapped around him, mug of steaming hot tea in his hands and at least three layers of tops on. His feet were tucked underneath his legs, and Erik could see the fuzzy blue slippers covering his feet. Charles had looked so pathetic and so adorable that Erik hadn’t complained about the heat in the room at all, and had snuggled up against Charles on the futon and fell asleep wrapped around him.

This year, they were spending the first cool weekend of the year at Edie’s house. Charles had already begun to dive into his collection of sweaters and thick woolen socks, much to Erik’s amusement. Edie, unlike Charles, ran cold, and kept the air conditioner running up until the end of September. This meant that when Erik got home from his job at the coffee shop late that third night of the week, he found Charles milling around in the kitchen, wearing a pair of thick sweatpants, two pairs of ugly, mismatched woolen socks, his trademark fuzzy blue slippers, one of Erik’s oversized sweatshirts over what Erik was sure to be at least one undershirt, a long-sleeved shirt, and a t-shirt. He had one of Erik’s thick, knitted scarves wrapped around his neck, and a pair of dark teal fingerless gloves on, and one of the afghans Edie had knitted years before wrapped around his shoulders. He was staring at the tea kettle, his favorite chipped mug sitting on the counter beside the stove.

“I still don’t understand how you get so cold all the time,” Erik said by way of greeting.

Charles’s head snapped up, and he smiled warmly at Erik.

“It’s got something to do with how I regulate my body temperature. The doctors explained it when I was little, but I didn’t care to listen.”

“That’s surprising, given that you were a nerd from day one.” Erik shrugged out of his cardigan and dropped it onto the table as the kettle began to whistle.

“Mmm, yes, but at four years old, I wasn’t exactly the most attentive child.”

That surprised a laugh out of Erik as he watched Charles pour the boiling water into the mug and dunk two tea bags into it.

“Hard to imagine a time when you weren’t attentive and soaking up every bit of knowledge you could get your sticky little hands on.”

“Mmm.  Well, I didn’t exactly become a nerd until I was about seven. That was the point Mum started ignoring me, so I turned to books. Fair trade, I suppose.”

Erik looked up in time to catch the fleeting sadness dim Charles’s eyes before he smiled in a self-depreciating way. He frowned a little as he untied his apron and left it on the table with his cardigan.

“I guess you wouldn’t be the nerd I love so much if you hadn’t.”

That earned him a wide, adoring smile from Charles, and even a light blush across his cheeks. He still, two years into their relationship, got embarrassed and shy whenever Erik was openly affectionate with him.

“I suppose not.”

Charles stepped closer, blowing on his tea before taking a sip of it. Erik simply stayed where he was, waiting for Charles to come to him.

“How was work?”

“Busy. Since the pumpkin spice latte is out again, everyone’s coming in to get five. Stryker was being a dick and I was ready to go. How were things at the house?”

“Just fine. Your mother made her famous lasagna and forced me to eat seconds and thirds. I’m stuffed.”

Erik chuckled, shaking his head, and smiling in relief when Charles stepped in closer and tilted his head up, silently asking for a kiss. Erik obliged him, leaning down and pressing a gentle kiss against his lips.

They were cool, which startled Erik.

“Seriously, how are you so cold?”

Charles laughed, taking another sip of his tea before heading for the living room, Erik trailing after him.

“I don’t know. Guess you’ll just have to find a way to warm me up, hmmm?”

Erik quirked an eyebrow at that, laughing quietly as Charles settled down onto the couch, wrapping the afghan tightly around himself and taking a large gulp from his tea. He looked so tiny just then, wrapped up in so many layers and shivering slightly. Picking up the spare quilt on the armchair, Erik joined him on the couch, tugging him closer and tucking the quilt around the two of them. Charles smiled and snuggled in closer, resting his free hand on Erik’s thigh.

It was the quiet moments like this that Erik loved the most, holding his ridiculously cold boyfriend close after a long day at work and attempting to warm him up.

“Missed you tonight,” Charles murmured, setting his mug down on the coffee table and curling in closer to Erik. He tucked his head underneath Erik’s chin, wrapping his arm around his waist.

“Missed you too. I would have rather been here with you and Mom. Would have been much more fun than working with Stryker the asshole.”

Charles chuckled, snuggling in even closer and closing his eyes with a soft sigh.

“Yeah. You’re incredibly warm, you know that?”

Erik huffed out a laugh, reaching up to card his fingers through Charles’s hair.

“How can you tell? I can’t imagine how you could feel anything through all those layers of clothes.”

“Just can. I’m always warmer near you.”

Erik smiled fondly and hugged Charles closer, tucking the second quilt more firmly around him, leaning back on the couch and closing his eyes.

It was worth the stiff back and neck and the sheen of sweat sticking his clothes to him the next morning to find Charles burrowed against him as close as he could get, not shivering for the first time since fall had begun.

After that night, Erik loved Charles’s inability to handle the cold. Especially because it meant waking up to Charles burrowed against him every morning. 

 

 


End file.
